In September this year The Lawyer devoted an entire issue to futurology. What would the legal profession look like in 2020? We made specific predictions around UK market consolidation and law firm collapses, a radical change in resourcing structures and growing demands from in-house lawyers. It was one of our most successful editions of the […]
This was a year dominated by merger activity in the legal market. For some firms, such as Ashurst and Herbert Smith Freehills, there was a desire for international expansion. For others, such as Slater & Gordon and DWF, there was opportunity to be grasped in being the dominant consolidator. And then there were the game-changing […]
The year will be remembered for redundancies and consolidation, as firms looked to cut costs and reduce overheads. Here The Lawyer takes a look back at what has been a transformative year, from the collapse of Cobbetts and the pre-pack sale of Manches to Penningtons to the coming together of SJ Berwin and King & […]
Move of the week CMS Cameron McKenna has named Penelope Warne as its first female senior partner, replacing former managing partner Dick Tyler. Warne, who is presently the firm’s managing director for the UK and head of the energy group, begins her four-year term on 1 May 2014. She has been with CMS since 1993, […]
Legal work is on hold as the country fights it out over whether its future lies with Russia or the EU The sight of a mass demonstration against the government is nothing new in Ukraine. In 2004 the so-called Orange Revolution was sparked by allegations of vote-rigging by the winner of the presidential election, Viktor […]
As Qatar spends billions gearing up for the World Cup and a new emir orders full-scale modernisation, the case for a practice in Doha looks compelling Earlier this year the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, stepped down from the throne and handed power to his son, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The new […]
Despite unrest in the mining sector, South Africa is likely to remain a draw for international firms wanting to get their feet on African soil Looking back, 2013 could well go down as a critical year for South Africa. The country’s international icon Nelson Mandela has died, the country’s mining sector, for so long one of […]